Inhibitions
by VespertineFlora
Summary: After Dirk's hopes to confess to Jake during the game were dashed, he wasn't sure what to do about it. Now living in a post-Sburb universe, Dirk feels as though his best bet is to try to move past his feelings for Jake, until one night, his friend turns up tipsy on his doorstep.
1. Chapter 1

It was just past midnight when the doorbell rang and was then followed by a scattering of increasingly urgent knocks.

Dirk hadn't been asleep, of course. He was a night owl typically, and considering they were living in a universe that they made with all the money and resources they could ever need… well, he figured it was fine to stay up as late as he wanted. It wasn't like he had anything specific to wake up for the next morning anyway. However, that didn't mean he was used to receiving visitors this late, especially not unexpected visitors. Even if one of his friends were going to stop by, he'd usually have gotten some sort of notice, a text, a call, a pesterchum message, something. The strangeness of having a visitor combined with the pace of the knocking was frankly worrying.

He peeked through the peephole (as if he needed to be cautious), but as soon as he saw who was on the other side, his heart throbbed. Immediately, he unlocked the door and flung it open, though he greeted the other teen casually. "Jake, what are you doing here?"

The other teen didn't seem quite right. He was leaning against the doorframe, swaying a bit where he was standing. There was a halfway empty two liter soda bottle in one of his hands, but Dirk didn't have long to look at him because as soon as he opened the door, Jake staggered his way inside, throwing his arms around the slightly taller male.

Shocked, Dirk managed to swing the door shut behind him before putting his arms around Jake in return. The teen may have been a few inches shorter, but he was more built than Dirk's lean frame and he was putting much of his weight on Dirk's shoulders as he buried his face against him. Worried by his friends odd behavior, Dirk prompted, "Jake?"

Jake nuzzled his face against his neck and Dirk felt him exhaling hotly against the skin. It sent a shiver down his spine.

"Diiiiiiirk," Jake whined softly, holding him a bit tighter, "you're so warm."

When he spoke, Dirk was surprised to smell the faint tinge of alcohol on his breath. It was nothing compared to Roxy's typical alcohol breath, but it was because of her that Dirk knew what to smell for. "English," he said, his voice taking on a scolding tone, "are you drunk?"

"No," Jake immediately protested, but then amended himself as he pressed his overheated forehead to Dirk's neck, "A little, but I'm fine. I feel great. I feel better than great."

Dirk sighed. "You're wasted."

"Am not!" Jake insisted, popping his head up to frown at Dirk. "I am capable of holding my liquor as well as any gentleman, I'll have you know!"

Dirk rolled his eyes behind his glasses, not wanting to get into this argument. They had all drank together a few times and it was true that Jake had a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol. Among them only Roxy could outdrink him, and though one wouldn't think it was fair to make Jake compete with Roxy (as she'd more or less been training for the Alcohol Olympics since she was fourteen), he'd actually only come up a few drinks short of matching her. Jake had a tendency to act a bit foolish as soon as he started drinking, but it was a poor judge of just how drunk he was. It was very possible that Jake was wasted… but he might also just be a bit tipsy.

"Okay, fine," Dirk conceded, "But why did you stumble over here? Where are you coming from?"

He laughed a bit, leaning into Dirk. "Roxy had me over. Wanted to give me my birthday present early."

"Your birthday's not for another month and a half."

"You don't have to tell me, chap! But what was I going to do, tell her no? It just seemed rude," he explained, still laughing lightly.

"And let me guess," Dirk said, "she got you alcohol." He was trying to stay angry with the teen, but… it was impossible. Jake was silly and happy and damn that smile on his lips was infectious. Besides, Jake hadn't really done anything wrong or dangerous. They all lived in a quiet neighborhood, the same quiet neighborhood, so it wasn't as if Jake had done something stupid and dangerous and tried to drive or something. He'd only walked down the street from Roxy's house to his house a little drunk.

"Bingo," he replied with another laugh. "A bottle of gin, a brand called Beefeater or something. She said it was the sort of ironic present you'd appreciate, what with it being gin and my last name being English. And then she said there was something else ironic about it, but wouldn't explain what. Do you know?"

Dirk felt his face go a bit pink at that, knowing exactly what she thought was ironic about giving Jake Beefeater Gin, but Dirk didn't intend to explain it to Jake so he shrugged it off. "No clue, bro. Hey, come on, let's go sit down."

Though Dirk was reluctant to give up the fact that Jake was clinging to him like this… well, the teen was heavy and Dirk's shoulders were beginning to hurt.

"Sounds like a jolly good plan," Jake agreed jovially. With his arm swung around Dirk, he began to lead the both of them back to the living room, plopping down on the couch.

Dirk looked down at him a moment, shaking his head lightly. He hadn't had much of an evening planned but now that Jake was here… well, he was willing to change his mind. He and Jake hadn't… spent much time together since the end of the game, as if one of them had been avoiding the other. And despite the fact that looking at Jake made Dirk's heart throb like it was trying to escape his chest cavity, he missed Jake. He really did. Grinning lightly, he suggested, "Well, now that you're here, do you want to hang out? Make a night of it? I could pop some popcorn, we could watch one of the dumb movies you left here."

Jake replied with a laugh, immediately defending himself, "All my movies are fantastic, but beyond that, I agree completely and will most certainly hang out…" before Jake's grin turned mischievous, "on one condition."

Dirk raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

Jake held up the bottle, sloshing around the fizzy, dark contents inside. "Help me finish this."


	2. Chapter 2

Jake replied with a laugh, immediately defending himself, "All my movies are fantastic, but beyond that, I agree completely and will most certainly hang out…" before Jake's grin turned mischievous, "on one condition."

Dirk raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

Jake held up the bottle, sloshing around the fizzy, dark contents inside. "Help me finish this."

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Again, the blond tried to take on a scolding tone with his friend, though it was only half successful. He didn't like how adult it made him sound to scold his friend, so there wasn't really any potency behind his words.

"Not by a long shot!" Jake replied with a grin, "and going by the fact that you're lecturing me on drinking, you certainly haven't had enough. Come on, we're a couple of fun teenage boys with no parents around and a liter of coke and gin. It's practically our… duty in this position to get silly drunk, on behalf of teenage boys everywhere."

Oh god, how could Dirk argue with that smile? He shook his head again, but he was grinning slightly. "Fine. I'll go get the snacks, you pick out a movie."

"Gotcha, cap'n!" Jake responded diligently, hopping off the couch to search Dirk's DVD shelf for suitable entertainment.

With that, Dirk excused himself to the kitchen to get the popcorn started—but he also did it because he wanted a moment alone.

It was his own fault, he knew that. He had only himself to blame that he and Jake had spent more time avoiding each other than talking since the game had ended nearly two months ago. He'd… he'd had such big plans. Dirk had spent three years of cautious seed planting and dropping subtle hints in laying the groundwork for his eventual confession. He'd had a plan in mind for confessing to Jake when they finally met during the game (he'd had several plans in mind, to be fair), but… every time he thought the moment was just right, they were interrupted by some person, by a monster attack, by an explosion, or a salamander, or something. Dirk had lost count of the number of times he'd built up the courage to say something to Jake only to be put out like a fire blanket being thrown over a candle.

And then of course there had been Aranea. Jake had spent an unhealthy amount of time flirting awkwardly with her, and when Dirk realized he felt romantically threatened by a grey alien chick who had been dead for centuries, well…he had pretty much decided it was a good time to throw in the towel. Losing a romantic interest to a dead chick was pretty much the lowest of low blows.

Dirk had just found it so hard to keep up with Jake since then. Part of it was because he still… really, really liked Jake, and looking at the teen only made him want him more, which hurt, but… a bigger part of it was that being with Jake reminded him of how huge of a failure he was for not even being able to blurt out his feelings to the boy he'd been pining for for the past three years.

And the saddest part was, it wasn't like he had any actual competition any more. Roxy and Jake were fine friends, but had about as much romantic chemistry as a bag of potatoes, something Roxy had realized within minutes of their meeting. Even Jane had given up on Jake and moved on after his unknowing rejection (of course, the whole ectosiblings thing had certainly helped seal the deal too); Dirk remembered that night quite well, remembered her telling him that Jake had at one point been relieved to hear that Jane didn't like him and had confessed his openness to a relationship with Dirk. She even wished him luck and encouraged him to speak to Jake, but he was apparently just too much of a coward to go through with it.

The beeping of the microwave pulled him back to the present, where he was surprised by the pleasant smell of salt and hot butter. He grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and slowly ripped open the hot popcorn bag to pour it in. A moment later, he was heading back out to the living room, where Jake was casually watching the previews of whatever movie he'd popped in.

He collapsed onto the couch next to Jake, putting the bowl of popcorn between them. The other teen immediately reached out for some while Dirk asked, "What are we watching?"

"Pulp Fiction," Jake replied and turned to him with a grin. "You have seen Pulp Fiction, right?"

"Nope," Dirk replied casually. Though he'd seen a ton of films from Jake's time, it was impossible to have seen them all, he supposed.

No sooner was the word out of his mouth than Jake was giving him a scandalized look. "I really can't believe you. I just can't."

Dirk grabbed a piece of popcorn, but instead of eating it, tossed it at Jake and hit him lightly on the cheek. It bounced off and landed back in the bowl. The other teen narrowed his eyes playfully, a threat of retaliation flashing in his eyes, but Dirk just continued to smirk vaguely at him until Jake gave up and settled back against the couch.

"This movie is totally classic. You'll love it, I swear."

"But you always say that," Dirk teased.

Jake hushed him. "I really mean it this time."

Dirk decided not to remind Jake that he really meant it every time, and instead just smiled to himself.

"And we're drinking to it, so it'll be even better," Jake insisted, pressing play and starting the movie. "Basically, every time someone dies, or someone does drugs of some sort, we'll take a drink. We'll see how long it takes to get through the rest of the bottle."

Claiming cigarettes didn't count as drugs, it was about twenty minutes into the movie when Samuel L. Jackson's character shot some random guy on a couch and they had to take their first drink. As Jake was the master of the bottle, he tilted it back against his lips and took a healthy swig before handing it over to Dirk.

And suddenly the only thing that Dirk could think about was that he was about to get an indirect kiss from Jake. It was a silly Japanese thing that Dirk had seen in a bunch of anime, Dirk knew that, and he wasn't sure he even really thought of sharing a drink or food with someone as an indirect kiss, but the only thought on his mind as he stared at the mouth of the bottle was that Jake's lips had just been touching it and his heart was beating funny.

He hesitated for so long that Jake nudged him a bit with his elbow. "Come on, mate, about to be time for another drink."

Dirk took a breath and tipped the bottle back to take a swig—as soon as the concoction hit his tongue though, he nearly choked, swallowing it just in time to avoid spitting it out, his voice raspy. "Goddamn, English, how much of this is actually soda?"

Jake gave him a grin that was so playful it should have been criminal and replied, "Enough of it."

Then Jackson shot another dude after some epic speech and Jake snatched the bottle back from his friend, commenting, "I'll let you pass on this one, lightweight."

In return for the barb, Dirk shoved Jake's shoulder lightly, before settling back against the couch to continue watching the movie.

And okay, Dirk had to admit it was entertaining. The wit was sharp, the humor precise and strange, and the stories were weaving together in an intriguing way. It was hard to believe that Jake had actually suggested a good movie (though it was bound to happen at some point, right?), but the longer he watched, the more interested he was.

Between the deaths and hard drug use in the movie, the drinking was surprisingly well-paced. They were taking a shot about every ten to fifteen minutes and considering their drink was practically straight alcohol, it was getting him nicely toasted. His face felt warm and a little numb and he could feel the heat coming off Jake's shoulder that was oh so close to his. Of course, for every swig Dirk took, Jake was probably drinking twice as much, but that was fine; Jake probably needed to drink twice as much as Dirk to get the same effect.

About halfway into the movie, when there had been a slight delay in the drinking, Jake explained there was usually another rule that would have them drink any time someone said "fuck," but that would have resulted them blowing through the alcohol they had in about fifteen minutes, so he'd omitted it. Besides that, he wasn't trying to get Dirk sick by making him drink too fast.

The movie began to grow uncomfortable around the hour-forty mark when two of the main characters woke up duct-taped to chairs with balls gags in their mouth, began to be fought over by two rednecks… before one of the characters was dragged into another room by the rednecks and a series of terrible noises were heard. As if sensing Dirk's growing discomfort with the scene, Jake leaned into him a bit, put his head against his shoulder… and very effectively distracted him from the scene because his heart was suddenly pumping too fast to care about the movie for a good long minute.

Two hours in, their alcohol was gone, their popcorn nearly was as well, and Jake's head remained on his shoulder for the duration of the movie. It was honestly a credit to the quality of the movie that Dirk was able to maintain his focus on the plot at all, considering. At some point, Jake sat up to set the empty bottle and bowl on one of the end tables, but he returned to his position against Dirk's shoulder immediately.

When the credits finally rolled, Jake turned to look at him expectantly, a hesitant grin on his face, "So?"

Dirk didn't have a choice but to smile back at him. "Okay, I admit it, it was pretty good."

Jake immediately uttered the silliest laugh Dirk had ever heard (and Dirk felt his heart fluttering around his chest like one of the stupid birds that had plagued his childhood home), before launching into some rant about the director of the movie, famous quotes, random trivia… none of which was really that important to Dirk except that it was Jake that was saying it.


	3. Chapter 3

When the credits finally rolled, Jake turned to look at him expectantly, a hesitant grin on his face, "So?"

Dirk didn't have a choice but to smile back at him. "Okay, I admit it, it was pretty good."

Jake immediately uttered the silliest laugh Dirk had ever heard (and Dirk felt his heart fluttering around his chest like one of the stupid birds that had plagued his childhood home), before launching into some rant about the director of the movie, famous quotes, random trivia… none of which was really that important to Dirk except that it was Jake that was saying it.

It wasn't long before their discussion had shifted slightly, morphing the way drunk conversations usually did. The teens were facing each other, leaning against the back of the couch, comfortably. With his shades on, Dirk could use this moment to stare at Jake as much as he wanted aa the boy talked and talked and talked. Dirk probably loved the sound of his voice far more than he should.

Eventually, Jake sighed lightly, gazing fondly into space as he continued, "You know, sometimes I miss Sburb."

Dirk let out a soft, slightly sarcastic laugh. "What the hell was there to miss? The murderous Batterwitch? The murderous Dersite Agents? The murderous Bec Noir? The murderous Lord English? The murderou—"

"Okay, I get it!" Jake blurted, shoving at Dirk's shoulder lightly and shutting him up, though he was still laughing. "I know, there was an entire lot of people who wanted to kill us. I totally get it. But still… I miss the adventure. Sure, we were killed and nearly killed a number of times, but everything here is so… boring."

A long sigh passed his lips as he leaned his head against the couch, but he continued to grin at his friend, "Yeah, I suppose. My entire life had been one constant, epic battle though, so I don't mind a little peace for once. At least not for now."

"Yes, I'm with you there. Life on Monster Island consisted of fighting to survive and pretty much nothing else. And I did enjoy not having that for a while, but… it's been months and nothing happens here! A gentleman such as myself thrives on excitement and fighting! If I don't find an adventure soon, I may just wither away."

It was then that a somewhat… distressing thought occurred to Dirk and the smile faded from his face. The alcohol made his lips loose, so before he'd really thought about his words, he found himself asking, "Is that why you've been drinking so often? For adventure?"

Because… Roxy had been making excuses to have Jake and the rest of them over for drinks fairly consistently and Jake had seemed more and more eager to take her up on the offer. While Dirk supposed there was no harm in it, ultimately (considering their physical bodies couldn't really be damaged or killed by that sort of stuff), it didn't mean that the thought wasn't worrying. He didn't like the idea that Jake needed to drink to be content.

The smile faded briefly from Jake's lips as he gave Dirk a look of faint surprise that Dirk didn't know how to read. Was it surprise that Dirk would think something like that… or surprise that Dirk had actually figured it out?

A half a second later though, the smile returned and Dirk was too tipsy to be able to tell if it was faked as Jake spoke. "No, friend, don't worry about it." And after that, he was quick to change the subject. "You know what one thing had me utterly baffled during the game?"

Unable to resist the current of Jake's subject change, Dirk prompted the other teen the way he was supposed to, wondering perhaps if Jake had some question about the game or all the time shenanigans that Dirk could explain for him. "No, what?"

Jake's grin stretched to its familiarly teasing width as he spoke. "I was baffled by the fact that no matter how many things we fought and killed… you never had a single hair out of place."


	4. Chapter 4

Jake's grin stretched to its familiarly teasing width as he spoke. "I was baffled by the fact that no matter how many things we fought and killed… you never had a single hair out of place."

Having been caught completely off-guard by the observation, Dirk immediately burst into an uninhibited laugh.

"I'm serious!" Jake insisted with a goofy smile. "Even when you were covered head to toe in the blood of your enemies, your hair was absolutely pristine. It's like you could have gotten trapped in one of those old timey fight dust clouds and you could have come out with your hair still perfectly molded. Throughout the course of the entire game I didn't see it messed up even once and I just don't see how it was physically possible!" His jabbed his finger lightly at Dirk's knee. "Be honest, that was one of your powers as the Prince of Heart, wasn't it?"

"Ever perfect hair? No way," Dirk replied as he tried to quell his laughter, "That's more like… a Strider power. There's magic and shit holding it in place. Our hairstyles are completely invincible."

A sinful grin took over Jake's lips at that. "Completely, you say?"

Dirk narrowed his eyes at Jake behind his shades, instantly suspicious. He sat up a little as he asked warily, "What are you thinking, bro?"

"I'm thinking… I'm going to do it," he said mysteriously. He raised up his hands a little, looking a cat who was ready to pounce.

"Do what?" Dirk asked and began to lean away from the teen; he was afraid he already knew the answer.

Jake's voice was deliciously evil as he continued, "I… am going to mess up the hair of the great Dirk Strider."

"Jake," Dirk said sternly, a warning tone to his voice, and raised his own arms defensively, "Jake English, don't you dare."

"Oh, it's too late," he taunted, and as he spoke his hands were slowly reaching towards Dirk's head as if only sudden movements would alert Dirk to Jake's actions, "it's already going to happen."

Set on protecting his perfectly styled locks, Dirk began to edge away from the teen and the predatory look in his perfectly green eyes and the way his hands were getting ever closer. He wasn't as serious as he was attempting to sound to Jake, but his smooth smirk was at least part nervous at the way Jake was eyeing him up like a helpless rabbit prime for the kill. "English, you get those hands away from me. You get them away right now or I swear—AHH!"

Jake had picked just that moment to lunge at him, knocking Dirk back onto the couch. Dirk put his arms up in time to block his hands from their target, though by the look on Jake's face, he was not discouraged in the least. Still wearing that ludicrously vulturine grin, he jested, "Strider, I don't think I've ever heard you make such an undignified noise. You're not losing your cool, are you?"

"Fuck you," Dirk replied, still in good humor, and he began to shove Jake off of him, over the side of the couch in an attempt to escape.

But Jake had a better grip on him that he'd anticipated, so as Jake began to fall over the side, he managed to drag Dirk with him and after Jake landed with his back on the floor, Dirk landed clumsily on top of him. The alcohol prevented him from accessing any of his more complex battle skills (at this point, that meant anything that required any degree of coordination, which included getting to his feet with any sort of urgency or grace), so he was left in the fight with only his basic survival instincts and his pride as a Strider to keep him going. Before Jake could right himself, Dirk made an attempt to roll across the floor and out of his reach.

Years of wrestling with Brobot and the quick ascent of his echeladder during Sburb had prepared Jake for such a simple maneuver though, and he quickly reached out and grabbed Dirk's arm before his blond friend could think to get away.

They spent a few minutes drunkenly rolling around on the floor, tussling and struggling for control of the bout as Jake tried to get his hands in Dirk's hair and Dirk spit and swore half-hearted threats, "I'll kill you, English!"

"I'd love to see you try," Jake returned, looking ridiculously excited for someone who was being threatened, even if the threat was accompanied by a huge smile.

Dirk dodged another swipe, batting Jake's arm away, "I swear, I'll murder you, don't you even—"

Then Jake's next reach went for his shades and not his hair; not expecting it, Jake successfully got the accessory off his face, and tossed them lightly up onto the couch and out of harm's way.

But having his shades taken was the final burst of motivation he needed to claim the upper hand and immediately, Dirk managed to roll over top of Jake, straddling his hips and pinning his arms at his sides. Both teens' chests heaved for a moment as they caught their breath from their scuffle.

"There," Dirk said with finality in his voice, expecting a hard-earned surrender from the teen beneath him. "Now cool it, will you?"

"I think not," Jake replied defiantly, the smirk on his lips even more self-assured than before. With that, Jake began to twist and turn, trying to muscle his arms out of Dirk's grasp.

And Dirk had a surprisingly hard time keeping a hold on him, adjusting his grip again and again as Jake fought against him, his heart rate rising as he tried to prevent Jake from breaking free, actually feeling a mild bit of panic, "When the hell did you…" he gasped out as he fought to keep him pinned, "get so strong?"

Jake only grinned back and teased, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Suddenly, Dirk felt Jake's hips bucking up sharply at him—the motion was unsettling and threw him off balance and before Dirk had realized just what was happening, Jake had rolled over on top of him, his strong arms grabbing each of Dirk's and pinning them quickly above his head against the floor. Their positions hadn't just switched though—Jake's pin left their chests and stomachs pressed together, their hips flush with Dirk's legs still on either side of Jake; it left their faces mere inches apart. They both took another moment to pant slowly, their eyes on each other's faces.

And Jake was… so handsome. Without his shades, Dirk could see the teen's face even more clearly and… damn. There was a soft blush on his tanned face, his breath was passing through slightly parted lips and without the glasses that Jake hadn't needed since the end of the game, Dirk was left staring straight into those emerald eyes. Dirk watched the smile fading slowly from Jake's lips and felt his own mirroring the expression. His heart was beating at an inhuman rate and there was something wickedly exciting about having Jake hold him down like this, his arms trapped in the teen's strong hands, their bodies pressed together. Dirk forgot he was supposed to be fighting, though to be fair, Jake seemed to have forgotten as well.

His eyes glued to the teen (as he noticed Jake's eyes were glued to him), Dirk watched as Jake swallowed. His eyes followed the slight curve of his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat.

Finally, as the teen stared down at him, captivated, Jake spoke, but his words were made of breath more than actual sound as he exhaled them lightly against Dirk's lips. "God, you're gorgeous."

Dirk felt his cheeks heating softly, adding to the color from the alcohol and the wrestling, and felt himself shiver. Had he… heard that right? Had Jake English just called him gorgeous? Was his mouth really hovering over his like this with the longed-for threat of contact? Dirk almost couldn't believe it. He remained utterly still, hoping that by not moving, he wouldn't interrupt Jake's train of thought.

Then he watched as eyelids covered green eyes and a second later… Jake kissed him.


	5. Chapter 5

Finally, as the teen stared down at him, captivated, Jake spoke, but his words were made of breath more than actual sound as he exhaled them lightly against Dirk's lips. "God, you're gorgeous."

Dirk felt his cheeks heating softly, adding to the color from the alcohol and the wrestling, and felt himself shiver. Had he… heard that right? Had Jake English just called him gorgeous? Was his mouth really hovering over his like this with the longed-for threat of contact? Dirk almost couldn't believe it. He remained utterly still, hoping that by not moving, he wouldn't interrupt Jake's train of thought.

Then he watched as eyelids covered green eyes and a second later… Jake kissed him.

Dirk's heart immediately began to pound at the soft pressure of Jake's lips against his. He felt all the strength drain out of him—even if he'd wanted to get away at that moment, it would have been impossible. His muscles had liquefied and he was a useless blob for a long moment as Jake kissed him lightly.

Their lips broke apart after a moment… but almost immediately, Jake kissed him again, more firmly this time, and Dirk pressed his lips back against Jake's as much as he could. In his current position, he didn't have any control over the kiss, pinned and unable to make Jake kiss him more, kiss him harder, but he didn't really mind because this was suddenly every dream he'd ever had come true, just the fact that Jake was kissing him willingly and having the teen laying right on top of him did nothing to quell Dirk's excitement at that moment.

They kissed like that for a long time and Dirk tried to maintain his cool and not react like this was his first real kiss, even though it very much was and internally, his brain was going positively haywire, because this was Jake English, the boy of his dreams and he was kissing him. Jake English's lips were pressed against his, and god, this was what it felt like, and Jake's lips were soft and warm and Dirk could have sworn he felt his mouth tingling, though that may have been the gin, but ultimately, he didn't even care because goddamn _Jake English was kissing him_. With all that, it was shocking that he wasn't just acting like a complete fool.

After a bit, Jake's hips shifted a bit against him. He hadn't been intentionally grinding against him or anything, but just the movement made Dirk suddenly aware that Jake…was even more excited by this than he was.

But immediately after that, Jake broke the kiss and pulled his face away from Dirk's, groaning, with irritation in his voice. Quickly, Jake released him and rolled off of him, flopping onto his back on the carpet, his hands moving to cover his face.

"Bloody hell," he cursed, his voice partially muffled by the hands he was hiding behind. "Bloody fucking hell, I'm sorry. I'm wasted, I'm so wasted and I know that's not an excuse, fuck. I'm so sorry."

Dirk felt his insides freeze up. He didn't know what Jake was sorry for, but he didn't like the tone of his voice. He didn't like that Jake felt the need to apologize for kissing him—it make his stomach feel twisted up and painful and he wanted to make it stop, he wanted to just make Jake start kissing him again and force down the awful feeling of acid suddenly lapping at the back of his throat. He swallowed hard, trying to banish it back to his stomach and think of something he could say to mend the situation.

Eventually, when Dirk had not yet filled the gap, Jake decided to do it for him, still speaking from behind the mask of his hands, his words all trailing together in one long run on sentence. "Please just don't hate me, I just… I really like you and I miss you so much…"

Dirk's heart throbbed up into his throat, interfering with the acid there, as he tried to decide what the hell to do.

"…and we haven't been talking enough lately and I guess that's my fault because I've been too afraid that I would do something stupid just like this, and I guess I was right all along. I mean, I thought you liked me for a while there, but I… I know about you and Jane, and I'm not trying to break you two up or anything—"

"What," Dirk interrupted, finally finding himself with adequate motivation to speak up, though he didn't have the strength to look over at Jake with his face so unprotected, so he posed his confusion to the ceiling instead. "Me and Jane? What do you mean, me and Jane?"

"I…" Jake faltered for a moment, as if reevaluating his thoughts for accuracy before continuing and when he next spoke, the words were no longer muffled behind his hands. "I saw you guys. At Roxy's very first party, when everyone was there. I went outside and saw you guys on the porch and I saw… Jane kiss you. And since then you two talk all the time when we hang out. I mean, I just figured…"

Dirk's stomach did a somersault; he knew exactly the moment Jake was talking about, but he had it all wrong. The night Jake was talking about was the night Jane had encouraged Dirk to go after Jake. She'd given him a ridiculously platonic peck on the cheek, and at the time, they'd both been a little bit tipsy and had thought nothing of it, and… after that, they had just found it easier to talk to one another, what with clearing the air of their romantic rivalry and everything.

"No, no, that's not it at all," he quickly protested. At that point, it was Dirk's turn for his hands to cover his face, shielding his eyes, but leaving his mouth free to speak, "that was just… a friendly little kiss. On the cheek. It wasn't romantic."

He heard Jake shuffle, felt him move next to him, and figured that Jake had rolled onto his side to look at him. "So you… you're not with Jane?"

"No, I'm not," Dirk confirmed.

"And what about me?" Jake inquired. His hand moved to grab one of Dirk's, the skin firm and warm over Dirk's, and slowly, he pulled Dirk's hand away from his face to look at him. "Was I wrong about you liking me?"

Moving the other hand away from his face, Dirk looked over at Jake. The teen looked hesitant, but it was an optimistic look, as if simply unwilling to believe he could be having such good luck. But perhaps Dirk was infected by that same disbelief. After all, he'd just heard Jake tell him that he really liked him and yet he felt so cautious about confessing the same thing. He offered Jake a small smile as he told him, "No, you weren't wrong."

"Seriously?" Jake asked, the smile stretching across his face.

"Seriously," Dirk replied as he felt himself smiling a bit more as well.

"So let me get this straight," Jake said, sitting up a bit as he looked down at Dirk with an incredulous look on his face. "You mean to tell me… that I've been avoiding you all this time… for absolutely no reason at all?"

Dirk let out a soft breath of a chuckle. "Yes, it would seem so."

"And instead of avoiding you all this time," he continued, leaning down over him a bit more with a smile stretching over his lips, "I could have been kissing you?"

Dirk felt his cheeks heat a bit, but he was still grinning lightly, the smile on his lips a severe understatement of the bursts of joy he felt going off inside of him at the rate of a fireworks show's grand finale. "In fact, you could be kissing me right now."

Jake let out a laugh as he settled himself back over Dirk and replied, "That's a smashing idea."

He didn't hesitate a moment more before kissing him again and this time, Dirk gladly returned it, put his now free arms around Jake's back and held him close, savoring in the pressure of Jake's lips and the warmth of their bodies and now that they were happy like this, he was never willing to give it up again. As they kissed and Jake's lips moved against his, his strong hands softly touched his cheeks and then pushed back into his hair and at that point, Jake broke the kiss, grinning like a fool and saying, "Gotcha."

Dirk was confused for a moment, before Jake's hands began to muss and mess, pushing his hair all out of place, and Dirk burst into a laugh, with an accompanying threat, "English, you are dead!"

In reply to which, Jake laughed, and let Dirk tackle him before their lips were once again together because kissing Jake was far more important than his hair or his meaningless threats.

They kissed for hours, days, lifetimes, until eventually they fell asleep together curled up and tangled on the couch in the living room, using only each other for warmth. When they woke up the next morning, it was with mild hangovers, though neither of them really cared, and they ignored their morning breath and kissed a little bit more before Dirk finally got up to make them breakfast for the both of them. They spent the rest of the day together, relaxing and recovering and rejoicing in each other's company, overjoyed and content and sated because they were finally, finally, free from their inhibitions.


End file.
